I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 89

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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89.
Why was Yang Ja-han holding the jade token of Chui Ok Gok Mun?
Moreover, his appearance was an absolute mess.
Anyone would have no choice but to suspect him.
Im So-ha, startled, formed a seal.
“Yang Sunim. May I ask what you’re doing with those items right now?”
Yang Ja-han silently swept his gaze across us.
His eyes came to rest before Baek Un-jin.
Yang Ja-han offered a light fist salute to Baek Un-jin, showing courtesy.
“Yang Sunim!”
“I understand your suspicion. However, this was not my doing.”
“These are the jade tokens of the cultivators of Chui Ok Gok Mun’s Yeon-gi branch.”
“I know.”
“Then why do you have….”
Yang Ja-han raised both hands to show he had no intention of fighting.
“I was in the process of collecting them.”
“Collecting them?”
“Yes. When I arrived, it was already too late.”
Im So-ha lowered her seal.
Yet her expression was not one of complete trust.
After all, Yang Ja-han was someone with a track record of attempting to kill Jin Seok-jun in front of everyone.
“Ha, if I had committed this deed, I would have fled the moment I sensed your presence—why would I reveal myself?”
“…”
Yang Ja-han was alone.
It would be impossible for him alone to fight against so many people.
Yang Ja-han’s words held merit.
And I knew one thing more.
‘That fellow is irritating, but he’s absolutely not the type to lie.’
In the original work, Yang Ja-han was not someone who made excuses.
He was a protagonist with such a straightforward nature.
The very fact that he was offering an explanation was evidence that he had not harmed the cultivators of Chui Ok Gok Mun.
Of course, that didn’t mean all suspicion against Yang Ja-han was cleared.
“Why are you here?”
Unbyek Rim was territory of Chui Ok Gok Mun.
It was far removed from Moo Geuk Hyeon Mun, and there was no reason for him to be in this place.
‘There was no narrative related to Unbyek Rim in the original work either.’
So why was Yang Ja-han here?
“That is….”
Yang Ja-han staggered, then suddenly collapsed forward with a thud.
“Wh—what?”
He pressed his hand against the ground, then lowered his head again as if dizzy.
Why is this bastard like this?
“I’ll answer you, so give me some water.”
“Water, all of a sudden?!”
“I haven’t had water for a month.”
“A month?!”
Yang Ja-han’s appearance was shocking enough, but the fact that he’d wandered for a month without even water was astounding.
Monastery disciples could survive days without water or food without harm to their lives, but a month was excessive even for them.
“Hui, Hui-gyeom… give him some water.”
“Ah, yes…”
“While you’re at it, bring some food too.”
Was this bastard always this shameless?
In any case, we gave Yang Ja-han water and some fried dumplings we’d brought just in case.
He must have been truly starving, for he devoured all twenty dumplings right there on the spot.
“What exactly did you do to wander around starving for a whole month?”
“Sigh… One of my master’s disciples went missing after going to Unbyek Rim with Chui Ok Gok Mun.”
Unlike me and Eun Hui-gyeom, who were the only disciples, Yang Ja-han’s master Jin Mun was famous for taking in numerous disciples and making them compete.
“Recently, there have been disappearances of monastery disciples at Chui Ok Gok Mun, so I was ordered to investigate what was happening and came to Unbyek Rim.”
“…”
“I didn’t expect to be here this long either.”
Yang Ja-han pulled out another token from his robes.
It was a Moo Geuk Hyeon Mun token made of obsidian.
“Is the misunderstanding cleared now?”
Instead of answering, I looked toward Im So-ha.
Since Yang Ja-han had multiple jade tokens from Chui Ok Gok Mun in his hand, the misunderstanding needed to be resolved with Im So-ha, not me.
“Unbyek Rim is managed by Chui Ok Gok Mun, but it’s not a place where other sects are forbidden entry. I understand the circumstances. But where did those jade tokens come from?”
“I’ll guide you. But there’s a condition.”
“A condition?”
“Don’t suspect me again, and… no. I don’t think this is something I should meddle in.”
Yang Ja-han repeatedly insisted that we not suspect him.
Seeing him speak so earnestly, we had no choice but to trust him.
“Lead the way then.”
We turned from the path we were about to take and went in the opposite direction, following Yang Ja-han.
As we drew closer, patches of dark crimson began to catch our eyes instead of green.
As I breathed in, a metallic scent mixed into the air.
“…It’s just ahead.”
He stepped aside and lifted a branch out of the way.
Beyond it, a small clearing came into view.
The ground of the clearing was dark crimson.
Long-dried blood lay like a membrane across the moss and earth.
Scattered around that area were human-shaped forms.
“This… this is…”
“Who could do such a thing.”
They were all monks from Chui Ok Gok Mun.
Sharp wounds covered the bodies of the dead.
They looked less like blade cuts and more like wounds inflicted by a beast.
They were wounds caused by wind.
“It seems there are monks here who couldn’t transcend even though considerable time has passed since their deaths.”
Yang Ja-han stared at one of the monks.
Both arms and legs had been severed, and a large wound remained on the neck—yet this was the only one wearing the robes of Moo Geuk Hyeon Mun.
Im So-ha covered her mouth with her hand.
Her shoulders trembled slightly.
She was a Gyeoldan-gi monk.
This wasn’t her first time witnessing monks’ deaths.
Yet she couldn’t bring herself to leave that spot for a long while.
“They’re children of Seonmun.”
Watching strangers die was different from watching junior disciples she cherished like her own children perish.
“This child entered Seonmun at eight years old, and that child was…”
Im So-ha murmured softly, reciting each dead monk’s name one by one.
Ha Gyeong-un placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
“Monk Yang. I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
The appearance of the dead monks showed no resemblance to Yang Ja-han’s techniques whatsoever.
“It seems the forest’s peculiar nature prevented them from transcending for quite some time. Please send them off peacefully.”
“…Yes.”
When transcendence was impossible, another monk had to perform the memorial rite directly.
Im So-ha retrieved spirit-guiding incense from her storage pouch and ignited it with her spiritual power.
As the incense burned, blue smoke rose into the air.
When the smoke touched the bodies of the dead monks, their forms turned pale white and scattered away.
We bowed our heads in a moment of silent mourning.
After the monks had transcended, Im So-ha approached us.
“There’s something troubling me.”
“What is it?”
“I should have noticed sooner… All the monks here had the Wood attribute.”
“The monk from Moo Geuk Hyeon Mun also had the same attribute.”
“And Gyeong-un has Wood as well.”
Due to Chui Ok Gok Mun’s nature, there were many monks with the Wood attribute.
Im So-ha, who had mentioned losing a day at Unbyek Rim before, shared the same attribute.
“Why is only the Wood attribute being targeted?”
“A man!”
“Pardon?”
“The man your master said was Nok-myeong Jeonja—is it possible he also possessed the wood attribute?”
The man Yeon-poong had loved.
Once called Nok-myeong Jeonja, he had been the great hope of Chui Ok Gok Mun.
Im So-ha, who had been pondering for a moment, finally spoke.
“Yes. He possessed the same attribute.”
“Yeon-poong couldn’t forget Nok-myeong Jeonja, so she took Ha Dou’s soul with her. If….”
I gazed upon the Clearing where the monks lay dead.
“Are you suggesting she mistook him for Nok-myeong Jeonja and tried to take the children away like she did with Ha Gyeong-un?”
“Yes. But…. something feels off.”
The Yeon-poong I witnessed back then had willingly returned Ha Gyeong-un to me.
She harbored no intention to harm him, and she remained with him without even understanding why she had taken him in the first place.
I had believed it was merely loneliness driving her actions.
“The Yeon-poong I encountered was not such a monk.”
“Then why on earth did she commit such cruelty?”
“That is….”
I fell silent, my gaze fixed upon Ha Gyeong-un as I wrestled with the thought.
Ha Gyeong-un had said that when the voices fell silent, he committed acts he had never perpetrated.
And those acts were things the ordinary Ha Gyeong-un would never have done.
“It’s Ha Dou. When the voices cease, perhaps it isn’t that he loses his mind—perhaps he’s gradually becoming one with Yeon-poong?”
“Becoming one?”
“She killed Nok-myeong Jeonja and was consumed by madness. That madness, suppressed for a thousand years, is beginning to spread once more.”
The Yeon-poong Ha Gyeong-un had encountered was sane.
But all the monks who met Yeon-poong stained by madness had no choice but to perish.
And the fact that the duration of silence within Ha Gyeong-un was growing shorter meant….
“The seal is breaking. In some form or another.”
For the first time, Baek Un-jin’s expression darkened.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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